The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Block the Bulb-Smashers!

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In 2007 President George W. Bush and the Democratic Congress passed one of the dumber nanny-state measures in a long time. They said we could no longer have incandescent light bulbs. The restrictions start in December.

There are several important reasons to prefer incandescent light bulbs. One of the most important is that breaking a compact fluorescent bulb results in the home equivalent of a hazmat spill. Get some mercury on your clothes and the Energy Deparment says to throw them away!

Where is the Republicah House majority, supposedly dedicated to restoring Americans' liberty? AWOL, of course! Wrote Diane Furchtgott-Roth:

President George W. Bush signed the light bulb ban -- the brainchild of Reps. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Fred Upton, R-Mich, -- into law in 2007 as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act.

Upton is now chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. While lobbying among Republicans for the position following their November 2010 election victory, he promised to seek repeal of the ban.

"We have heard the grass roots loud and clear, and will have a hearing early next Congress," he said last December. "The last thing we wanted to do was infringe upon personal liberties -- and this has been a good lesson that Congress does not always know best."

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, proposed a bill to save incandescent light bulbs in January. Barton's measure has 62 co-sponsors, including 61 Republicans and one Democrat. A companion bill with 28 backers in the Senate is sponsored by Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo.

The bills have not yet been considered in committee.

Solving Medicare is hard. Blocking the bulb-smashers is easy. One gets the sense the House Speaker John Boehner and the leadership really aren't against Big Government. They just like posturing against Big Government. After all, most of them have spent their careers voting for most of the programs and agencies that are bankrupting us today.

If Congress doesn't act, there is an alternative. Stock-piling bulbs. I've been buying 100 watt bulbs whenever they go on sale. Next year I'll stockpile 75 watt bulbs. And the year after, 40 and 60 watt bulbs.

Of course, if President Barack Obama is reelected, we probably will see creation of the Bulb Enforcement Agency to combat the bulb black market that otherwise will develop!

View all comments (14) | Leave a comment

bert| 6.3.11 @ 8:49AM

Bonehead has been posturing for decades and is K streets best buddy ! Bonehead and Cantor and company are DC elites who have done nothing to stop this stupid light bulb and Obamacare . Both scams are there to help GE a K st darling !
Bonehead is a disaster !

Dai Alanye| 6.3.11 @ 9:01AM

>"One gets the sense the House Speaker John Boehner and the leadership really aren't against Big Government. They just like posturing against Big Government."<<br />
This sort of cheap snarkiness is why I can't have much respect for Doug Bandow. As for commenters who agree with Bandow, I can only suggest they think for themselves.

Bob Grant| 6.3.11 @ 9:27AM

Absurd. Thanks a bunch President George W. Bush. And just why WAS there an R in front of your name?

btims| 6.3.11 @ 9:42AM

This mandate has to be repealed. The hell with "green" light bulbs. They are more expensive and hardly more long lasting. Plus a bit dangerous. It's all enviro fanaticism.

Ken (Old Texican)| 6.3.11 @ 9:54AM

I refuse to comply. There will be no mercury bulbs in my home, and I will instantly leave any home where they are installed.
Kiss my arse!

Tom Osterman| 6.3.11 @ 10:26AM

OK, the ban on incandescents is unconstitutional and obnoxious. But flourescent lights, if not CFLs, have been in widespread use for decades. You can get them at them at Home Depot. So what makes CFLs uniquely toxic?

Kevin Compton| 6.3.11 @ 11:00AM

I don't care about the politics of the whole thing. I replaced ALL of the incandescents in my house last year and every month since then my electric bills have been 20% - 25% less than the year before.

Dai Alanye| 6.4.11 @ 12:08AM

I have to question this. I've replaced mine because I have nine-foot ceilings and don't want to replace bulbs as often. The effect on my electric bill has been completely un-noticeable. Appliances like refrigerators, water heaters, clothes dryers, ovens and air conditioners use vastly greater amounts of electricity than do light bulbs. The only way of noticing a difference would be if you heated, cooked and refrigerated with gas or plutonium.

Too Many Tims| 6.3.11 @ 11:11AM

"One gets the sense the House Speaker John Boehner and the leadership really aren't against Big Government. They just like posturing against Big Government. "

One does.

Dai Alanye| 6.4.11 @ 12:10AM

Or perhaps one might be a doofus.

Lay off Boehner. He's so much better than what we could be suffering under.

Wayne Hermes| 6.3.11 @ 12:12PM

what is the phase out schedule? I don't trust Republicans enough to do the right thing so I want to begin stockpiling

axbucxdu| 6.3.11 @ 12:47PM

When they repeal this, they can proceed to ban those low-flow, er, double flush "water saving" toilets.

Pat Spooner| 6.3.11 @ 2:00PM

Repealing the ban will reduce costs for working Americans since Compact Fluorescent bulbs are more expensive and LED bulbs are prohibitively expensive. It might even result in more manufacturing jobs as many incandescent light bulb iwere previously made in America. Repeal the ban, now!

Irish22| 6.10.11 @ 12:09PM

CFLs are more expensive, plus you must consider the mercury issue, and the enormous subsidy we pay to make them attractive in the market. LEDs look expensive when compared to the subsidized CFLs, but they should just about last forever!